The invention pertains to a method and apparatus for the electrochemical analysis of solutions.
Electrochemical analysis based on the principle of voltametry and coulometry is presently performed with mercury electrodes of various design, for example, with the dropping mercury electrode, static mercury drop, mercury pool electrode, and several others. The analysis is carried out in cells of various shape. One of the fundamental requirements of the design of cells is the maintenance of a constant convention of the analyzed solution in the cell. This is achieved by various types of stirrers, by the flow of the analyzed solution along the electrode, or by motion of the electrode, e.g. by its rotation. Further problems arise with metering of the sample and the design of the cell in the analysis of small volumes of solutions. Therefore, the measurement is carried out with utilization of new measuring principles, for example, in a stream of sample, which is segmented with gas bubbles, or in a stream of a carrier electrolyte into which a metered amount of sample is injected (flow-injection analysis). But the equipment for performing the above mentioned new measuring principles is rather complicated and costly.